Need to pay heed to curbing city centre speed

It is only a few weeks since I highlighted the problem of boy racers using Friargate as a quarter mile race strip.

Well, low and behold, yours truly is the latest victim of this madness.

I was going about my duties in the normal manner, signalling right to make a right turn.

As I started turning right WHAM, a young lad had just parked his car right into the side of my taxi.

Sometimes you want to cry but on this occasion I just sat shaking my head in disbelief.

My instant reaction was complete annoyance at being the latest statistic on Lancashire constabulary’s road traffic collision record. When the young chap got out he was fully apologetic, which quickly reminded me that we were all young once.

So while at first I was annoyed, this was soon replaced by compassion after listening to his plight.

I was now hoping the wee guy had deep pockets for his insurance renewal after his evening’s edification.

I almost wanted to ask him if he thought he was on time trial section of the Need For Speed III video game, but even though no one was hurt, this wasn’t a humorous occasion.

But bad driving leads to accidents and whether it involves another vehicle, human being or animal there are always consequences.

On this occasion luckily it was only financial consequences that Mr Remorseful faced.

Thankfully with only minor damage and no one hurt I elected to let the guy pay for the damage rather than claim on his insurance.

PR1 and PR2 are already excessive for insurance premiums and I didn’t want to give the goldmine, sorry the insurance company, any excuses to fleece my bank account or anyone else’s come policy renewal in the forthcoming year.

Young drivers are always penalised, everyone who has insured a vehicle shortly after their driving test will know this.

It didn’t make sense for this young lad to follow suit if it could be avoided.

I hope the young lad learns from this in a positive way and is more switched on the next time he gets behind the wheel.

The accident was reported to the police and relevant authorities and Mr Boy Racer, tail between his legs, swanned back off into the night with the fresh disaster in his head that he now had to pay heavily cash wise to get my cab sorted.

Or rather someone else will pay for him and he will be on a repayment plan for the forseeable future. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when he broke the news to his parents of the evening’s events.

Somehow I don’t think they would have been as forgiving. Even thinking of him going home to face the music had me reflecting that yes, we were all young once.